A GRIEVING family have been telling of their shock at twice finding a loved one's grave covered in a ton of soil.

Now they are angry after Rochdale Cemetery bosses warned them that the tipping could happen again.

The sister and daughters of Sandra Davis, who died last December, visited her grave at Rochdale Cemetery on New Year's Day.

To their horror, Sheila Ramsden and nieces, Chantelle and Rochelle Davis, found the plot, which is awaiting a permanent headstone, had been wrecked by workmen digging a new grave nearby.

The trio were devastated.

"It was absolutely unbelievable," Sheila said.

"My sister had only been buried a few weeks before and we weren't even told they were digging up a grave nearby.

"To think that they could do that to a place that means a lot to us and is supposed to be a tribute was just awful."

But the heartache didn't stop there. When Chantelle, aged 23, and Rochelle, aged 16, returned to the cemetery with their aunt on what would have been their mother's 45th birthday, they again found the grave covered under a pile of soil.

Mrs Ramsden said: "I booked a day off work to spend it with the girls making the grave look nice, but it was a waste of time. It took two hours for the grave diggers to move the soil.

"The fact that it was allowed to happen once is bad enough, but to do it twice is disgusting.

"It was just the last straw. They had no reason to do it. I don't want the girls to have to go through that a third time."

"Sandra died three weeks before Christmas and it was very traumatic for the girls and this is just dragging things out."